Ukip rocked after south east MEP quits party

MILES O’LEARY

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FORMER Ukip leader Diane James has announced she is quitting the party.

Ms James, an MEP for the south-east region, was elected successor to Nigel Farage in September. She remained in the post for just 18 days before announcing she was standing down. In a statement, Ms James said she had applied to become an independent MEP in the European Parliament.

She said her relationship with Ukip had become ‘increasingly difficult’ since her decision not to take up the leadership – and ‘now was the time to move on’.

Addressing her decision to not continue as leader, she said: ‘I found that I had no support within the executive and thus no ability to carry forward the policies on which I had campaigned.’ Her resignation is the latest in a series of blows to Ukip. Fareham and county councillor Chris Wood quit and jumped ship to the Tories, describing his former party as ‘toxic’.